B00ARI2G5C EBOK

by Goethe, J. W. von

Should have been spilt, but that it is for you

  Alone to punish or pardon, as you please.

  HELEN. You grant high dignity, in making me

  Both judge and ruler, even though it were

  Only to tempt me, as I may surmise.

  But I do my first duty as a judge

  By hearing the accused. You, therefore, speak!

  LYNCEUS THE WATCHMAN.

  Let me kneel and let me gaze,

  Let me die or let me live:

  To this lady, whom the gods give,

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  I devote my mortal days.

  I have watched a mystery:

  As I waited for the dawn,

  Eastward peering, suddenly

  In the south the sun was born.

  And my eyes were drawn aside—

  Not a peak nor valley there,

  Sky nor earth they now descried:

  Only her, uniquely fair.

  Like the lynx on topmost bough

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  With keen vision I am blessed;

  But to wake I laboured now

  As by some dark dream oppressed.

  Where was I? What could restore me?

  Towers, ramparts, where were they?

  Such a goddess stood before me

  As the mists were swept away!

  Eyes and heart towards her turning,

  I had drunk her gentle light,

  And her beauty, dazzling, burning,

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  Burned and dazzled my poor sight.

  I forgot the watchman’s duty

  And my watch-horn’s promised call.

  Doom me now to death; yet beauty

  Tames the anger in us all.

  HELEN. I must not punish a misfortune I myself

  Have brought about. Alas, how pitiless

  Has been my fate, doomed everywhere to drive

  Men’s hearts to madness, that they neither spared

  Themselves nor reverenced any other thing!

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  They ravished and seduced and fought and snatched

  Me hither and thither: heroes, demigods,

  Gods, demons, led me wandering to and fro.

  My single form confused the world, twice more

  My double; now I am threefold, fourfold ruin.

  Take away this good man and set him free;

  Let no shame strike one whom a god has crazed.

  FAUST. A double sight, oh queen, amazes me:

  Your surely-speeding arrow, and its victim.

  I see the bow that winged it on its way,

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  And him who felt the wound. Arrows apace

  Assail me now, I sense their feathering flight

  At me from all sides, here within the castle.

  What has become of me? My truest followers

  You turn to rebels all at once, my walls

  You weaken. Will my army now obey

  Me, or this conquering unconquered lady?

  What choice now, but to give myself and all

  My supposed wealth to you in vassalage?

  Let me then at your feet, freely and truly,

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  Confess you mistress, who had but to appear

  And take at once your place upon the throne.

  LYNCEUS [with a treasure-chest, followed by men bringing others].

  Queen, we return from near and far

  To beg one glance, rich as we are!

  What man is there that looks at you

  And is not prince and beggar too?

  What am I now? what have I been?

  What must I will or do, oh queen?

  My piercing sight, what can it see?

  Your bright throne casts it back at me.

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  Out of the east we came, and so

  The west was conquered and laid low;

  A weighty army, wide and strong,

  From head to tail none knew how long.

  The first would fall, the next would stand,

  A third was ready spear in hand;

  Each reinforced a hundredfold,

  And a slain thousand fell untold.

  So we rushed on like storm and flame,

  Conquering and ruling as we came;

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  One day I gave the orders, then

  The plunder fell to other men.

  We looked around with greedy eyes:

  The loveliest woman was one man’s prize,

  Others took horses by the score

  Or prancing bulls, as spoils of war.

  But I would peer with my sharp sight

  At all things rare and recondite:

  I sought what no one else possessed,

  Cared not a straw for all the rest.

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  I hunted treasure’s every trace,

  Clear vision led me to the place,

  No pocket hid its wealth from me,

  Locked chests were glass, my eyes the key.

  Mine it became, a hoard of gold

  And precious stones. The emerald

  Now of all gems is worthiest

  To glow so green upon your breast;

  And let a pearl from deepest sea

  Now by your cheek hang tremblingly—

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  So red it blooms, no rubies dare

  To add their pale adornment there.

  Oh queen, so great a gathering

  Of riches to your throne I bring;

  Much blood was shed in warlike fray,

  Its harvest at your feet I lay.

  These coffers all are full, and yet

  More iron coffers I can get;

  If I may be your slave, all these

  Shall fill your vaulted treasuries.

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  For scarcely were you here enthroned

  Than all bowed down to you and owned

  Their minds, their wealth, their power in thrall

  To you, the loveliest form of all.

  All this was mine, I held it fast,

  I let it go, to you it passed.

  I thought it worthy: now I see

  This lofty treasure’s nullity.

  All’s vanished now I called my own,

  Withered it lies like grass that’s mown.

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  Lady, with one glad look restore

  Its value to it all once more!

  FAUST. Remove at once this burden boldly won;

  Uncensured it shall be, yet unrewarded.

  All that my castle’s deep interior hides

  Is hers already: a specific gift

  Is otiose. Go, and lay out the treasures

  In proper order. Raise on high the lofty

  Image of unseen splendour! Let the vaulted

  Roofs glitter like skies freshly starred; plant here

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  Strange paradises of unliving life.

  Where she will walk, let many carpets rich

  With flowers unroll before her: let her feet

  Fall upon softest ground, and brightest radiance,

  Dazzling to all but gods, confront her eyes.

  LYNCEUS. Little, my lord, is this you ask,

  Your command’s a trifling task;

  For this beauty all extol

  Rules us all, goods, life and soul.

  All the army now is tame,

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  Every sword is blunt and lame;

  And this form beyond compare

  Dulls the sun and chills the air.

  All’s made empty, poor and base

  By the riches of her face. [Exit.]

  HELEN [to FAUST]. I wish to speak with you, but I would have you

  Seated here at my side! This empty place

  Calls for the master, and makes mine secure.

  FAUST. First, as I kneel, accept my faithful homage,

  Most noble princess! Let me kiss the hand

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  That lifts me to your side; confirm me now

  As the co-regent of your rea
lm which knows

  No boundaries, and let me be for you

  Admirer, servant, guardian, all in one!

  HELEN. Manifold wonders I have seen and heard,

  And in amazement I have much to ask.

  But tell me why the speech of that good man

  Had something strange about it, strange and friendly:

  Each sound seems to accommodate the next,

  And when one word has settled in the ear

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  Another follows to caress the first.

  FAUST. It is the way our peoples speak; I know

  That if this pleases you, our music too

  Will charm your hearing, ravish your inmost heart.

  But it is best we practise it at once,

  Talking by turns, for that calls forth the skill.

  HELEN. Then say, how shall I learn such lovely speech?

  FAUST. It is not hard: say what your heart will teach.

  And when one’s heart is full, one turns to see

  Who’ll share the rapture—

  HELEN. Share it now with me!

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  FAUST. No past recalled, no future time to guess;

  Only the present—

  HELEN. is our happiness.

  FAUST. It is treasure and gain, possession and

  A pledge: but what must seal the pledge?

  HELEN. My hand.

  CHORUS. Who would find fault with our queen for

  Granting this castle’s lord

  Some signs of her favour?

  For we must confess that we all are now

  Captives, as we have been before

  So often already since the shameful

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  Fall of Troy, and our grievous

  Journey, labyrinthine, fear-haunted.

  Women accustomed to men’s love

  May not be choosers, but

  Their knowledge is expert.

  For whether to golden-haired shepherd boys

  Or to swarthy bristling fauns,

  As the case may be or the occasion:

  Equal rights will be granted,

  Making them free of their soft limbs.

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  Nearer they sit, closer already,

  Leaning against each other;

  Shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee,

  Hand in hand they are cradled

  On the soft cushions

  Of the magnificent throne.

  Our rulers do not forebear to make

  Their secret pleasures

  Proudly and exuberantly

  Public before the gaze of their people.

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  HELEN. I feel so far away, and yet so near;

  How willingly I say: Look, I am here!

  FAUST. Breathless I seem, words tremble and lose power;

  This is a dream, in no place, at no hour.

  HELEN. I am as one long past, and yet so new;

  To you bound fast, to an unknown stranger true.

  FAUST. Why puzzle, why insist? Our unique role

  Bids us exist; one moment means the whole.

  PHORCYAS [bursting in].

  Now’s no time for childish riddling

  Amorous alphabetic fiddling

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  Idle puzzling and canoodling!

  Now there’s other work to do.

  Can you hear the trumpets blaring,

  Hollow sounds of thunder nearing?

  Direst peril threatens you.

  Menelaus, battle-waging,

  Warrior-hosted, rides here raging:

  Arm yourselves for bitter strife!

  They’ll outnumber you; he’ll lop you

  Like Deïphobus, he’ll chop you

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  Up for dallying with his wife.

  This slave-trash he’ll hang; then, lady,

  For your neck an axe is ready

  Or a sacrificial knife.

  FAUST. Offensive interruption! Insolently it intrudes.

  I hate such headstrong folly, even when danger speaks.

  Ill news disfigures even the fairest messenger,

  And you, the foulest, you like best to bring the worst.

  But you shall not achieve it this time: shake the air

  With empty breath! There is no danger here, and if

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  There were, it would be seen to be an idle threat.

  [Signals, explosions from the towers, trumpets and cornets, warlike music, a powerful army marching through.]

  FAUST. NO! we shall stand, we shall not waver,

  As these my heroes now shall show.

  He alone merits woman’s favour

  Who can defend her from the foe.

  [To the commanders, who step from the columns and present themselves to him.]

  You from the east, you from the north

  In youthful strength, in vigorous flower:

  Let your long silent rage burst forth

  And bring you victory in this hour!

  A steel-clad host, with glint of flame:

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  Earth trembles where it treads the ground,

  Kingdoms have crumbled where it came,

  It marches to the thunder’s sound.

  In ancient Pylos from the sea

  We landed; Nestor ruled there once.

  The petty lordships fell, as we

  Warred on with wild unchecked advance.

  Now Menelaus comes: drive him

  Back to the waves without delay!

  Let him pursue his fate, his whim,

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  And go his wandering robber’s way.

  As Sparta’s queen commands, I greet

  You now as dukes; when you have laid

  These vales and mountains at her feet

  In princely kind you shall be paid.

  Teuton, build ramparts on the shores

  Of Corinth, and defend it well!

  Achaia’s gorges shall be yours,

  Bold Goth, all comers to repel.

  Let Elis be the Frank’s to guard,

  Let Saxons shield Messini, let

  The sea-ways by the Norman’s sword

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  Be cleansed, and Argolis made great.

  Thus each shall reign in his demesne

  And outwards make his power known:

  But she shall rule you all, the Queen

  Of Sparta, from her ancient throne.

  Under her sway an age of gold

  And plenty on this land shall fall;

  She shall enlighten and uphold

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  And bless with justice each and all.

  [FAUST descends, the princes approach and surround him to hear his further orders and dispositions.]

  CHORUS. He who desires the loveliest of women,

  Let him above all wisely

  Arm himself with redoubtable weapons.

  For though he may have won by flattery

  The earth’s supreme treasure,

  He will never possess it in peace:

  Subtle enemies will seek to entice her,

  Bold robbers to snatch her away from him.

  Let him take heed to prevent this loss.

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  Therefore I praise our prince and esteem him

  High above others: for bravely

  And with foresight he forms alliances,

  And the strong stand loyally round him,

  Awaiting his lightest gesture.

  They will faithfully hear his commands;

  Each will be serving his own advantage

  And rewarding his prince with gratitude;

  Both will win high honour and fame.

  For now who can carry her off

  From her powerful possessor?

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  To him she belongs, and may he have joy of her;

  This we doubly wish him, for with her

  He has surrounded us too with a sure wall

  And outside it with a mighty army.

  FAUST. T
hese fiefdoms which I here bestow—

  To each a rich and thriving land—

  Are great and splendid; let them go!

  Here in the midst we take our stand;

  These vying vassals shall make fast

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  And sure our ambient realm the while—

  So lightly linked and branched to Europe’s last

  Great mountain-chain, our wave-lapped demi-isle!

  Above all lands beneath the sun

  May this land flourish evermore,

  Which for my queen we now have won:

  Where first Eurotas’ whispering shore

  Looked up at her, when lovelier far

  Than Leda and with eyes more bright

  Than all her siblings, like a star

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  She broke her shell to greet the light.

  Lady, this land for you alone

  Displays its beauty; the whole earth

  Is yours, but this earth is your own:

  Love this land more, which gave you birth!

  The jagged summits on its mountain ridge

  Suffer the sun’s cold arrows sharp and clear;

  But rocks blush green with scanty pasturage

  And nibbling goats can seek their nurture here.

  The springs leap up, down gush the mingling rills,

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  Ravines and slopes are verdant now, the grass

  Covers in turn a hundred fields and hills

  Where the wide-wandering fleecy flocks may pass.

  Horned grazing cattle, scattered, warily

  Pacing, approach the brink of the sheer fall;

  But darkly arching in the cliffside, see!

  A hundred caves are shelter for them all.

  There Pan protects them, there they lie at ease

  In the moist wooded clefts where life-nymphs dwell.

  With upthrust branches the close-crowding trees

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  Aspire to higher regions. Mark them well,

  These ancient forests! Mighty oaks extrude

  Their stubborn and anfractuous limbs; here too

  The maple, heavy with sweet liquid food,

  Plays with its burden, soaring straight and true.

  Here in the quiet shade a lamb, a child,

  Sucks warm maternal milk with eager lips;

  Here in the plains the fruit grows ripe and wild,

  And from the hollow tree-trunk honey drips.

  Contentment is a birthright here,

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  A smiling mouth, a cheek that glows;

  Each is immortal in his sphere,

  No sickness, no disquietude he knows;

  And thus the children grow in this pure day

  To fatherhood. We ask again

  As in astonishment we gaze: are they

  Not gods indeed, or are they men?

  Apollo lived with shepherds so, and passed

  For one, and all were beautiful:

  For where the laws of purest Nature rule,

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  All separate worlds unite at last.

  [He sits at her side.]

  See, this is ours now; let our quest be ended,